It’s been a busy summer for AFI Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) alumna Pippa Bianco, the talented, rising filmmaker who adapted her Cannes-winning DWW short SHARE into her first feature film. Produced and financed by A24, the film world-premiered at Sundance, where it was quickly scooped up by HBO. In the critically celebrated, riveting and resonant SHARE, Sundance-winning newcomer Rhianne Barreto stars as a young woman who returns to high school after an explicit video of her taken during a night of partying goes viral. Bianco delicately traces the ensuing fallout, in an attempt to, as she explains, dignify how…

“We’re at a tipping point where we can finally imagine a world where there’s parity, where we can try to heal the world and bring it back from the brink of insanity,” said Robinson. “The thing about a tipping point is that it can easily tip back. So what I need all of you women to do is collectively go out there and kick ass with the sheer power of your voice and your will. Because we need all the weight we can muster to tip it all the way over.”

Following a recent kick-off event on campus with DWW’s 2017 Distinguished Artist, filmmaker Paul Feig (BRIDESMAIDS, GHOSTBUSTERS, SPY), the incoming AFI Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) Class of 2018 will embark on a year of mentorship, collaboration and creation to make a short film or series — all in preparation for professional success in narrative directing.

Following a rigorous selection process, AFI selected 25 alumnae from the AFI Conservatory and the AFI Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women (DWW) to advance to the next phase of the Fox Filmmakers Lab.

Sarah Gertrude Shapiro (AFI DWW, Class of 2012) continues to receive acclaim and accolades as co-creator of the Lifetime original series UNREAL, which grew from her AFI Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women (AFI DWW) short SEQUIN RAZE. AFI spoke with Shapiro about her series’ meteoric success story, and how her AFI DWW experience shaped her career today. Introduce yourself to the AFI Alumni community. I went to the AFI Conservatory Directing Workshop for Women in 2012. Before that I had been living in Portland, Oregon. I had a day job in advertising and was writing and directing music videos and…